Grand Bargain Taxes, Entitlements Cuts Await Deal-Makers
By James Rowley and Roxana Tiron - Mar 13, 2013
Some of the elements of a budgetary “grand bargain” will be on the table today. Merging them is the biggest political challenge in the U.S. Capitol.
Senator Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, will unveil her party’s fiscal 2014 budget, a plan generating almost $1 trillion in new revenue while protecting Medicare and expanding Medicaid health coverage for more low-income Americans, said a Democrat familiar with the proposal. It comes a day after House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, offered his blueprint for balancing the government’s books in 10 years by cutting $4.6 trillion.
“If we pass our budget, and the Senate passes their budget, we have at least revived the budget process through which we can look for common ground,” Ryan said today on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Lawmakers in both parties are waiting to see whether President Barack Obama, who begins two days of meetings with congressional Republicans today, will chart a compromise for those competing visions or side with the Democrats as he pushes for a grand-bargain budget settlement this year.
MORE...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2013-03-13/grand-bargain-taxes-entitlements-cuts-await-deal-makers.html